Nay \Nay\, adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv.]
1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request
made, now superseded by no. See Yes.
And eke when I say ``ye,'' ne say not ``nay.''
--Chaucer.
I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all
likewisr perish. --Luke xiii.
3.
And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
--Acts xvi.
37.
He that will not when he may, When he would he shall
have nay. --Old Prov.
Note: Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer
simple questions, and no was used when the form of the
question involved a negative expression; nay was the
simple form, no the emphatic. --Skeat.
2. Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to
mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or
more emphatic phrase.
Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. ``Were
he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.'' --Shak.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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